Giving an equation between \[ \]'s a number

Question

I usually use \[ ... \] to typeset equations in latex and sometimes I come back and realize that I want to have an equation number and label. I have been coming back and editing it to \begin{equation} ... \end{equation} but this is annoying and time consuming. Is there a command to do something like \[ \addeqnumber{} \] which will work the same way as the equation environment? I am aware this probably isn't the best practice, but it would save me some annoyance.

score 22 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

22

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\newcommand\addtag{\refstepcounter{equation}\tag{\theequation}}

\begin{document}

\[
  1+1=2  \addtag
\]

\end{document}

See also: How can I add numbers to specific equations in an eqnarray*?

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

Community

1

answered Apr 01 '11 at 13:57

Leo Liu

77,365

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 01 '11 at 12:39

8

If you find yourself doing this for all equations I would use search & replace but if you’re reluctant you can do the following:

\let\[\equation
\let\]\endequation

After that, \[ … \] will behave identical to \begin{equation} … \end{equation}.

You can also wrap this into a macro, and create another one to switch back so that you can switch between the two styles via two macros.

answered Apr 01 '11 at 12:39

Konrad Rudolph

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160

This won't handle the numbering appropriately if the amsmath package is loaded. – Gonzalo Medina Apr 01 '11 at 13:52
@Gonzalo Hmm, weird. What’s the issue? – Konrad Rudolph Apr 01 '11 at 13:58
If you load amsmath and use your suggestion, all the equations written with \[...\] will receive the same numbering: (1). – Gonzalo Medina Apr 01 '11 at 14:06
this should use \begin etc., see the last few lines of amsmath.sty – Philipp Apr 01 '11 at 19:25
I'm using amsmath and this is working just fine... – Alec Jacobson Dec 02 '19 at 17:02

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 01 '11 at 15:59

8

Not answering your question but maybe solving your problem: mathtools has a mechanism that suppresses equation numbers for unreferenced equations. (So you'd always use equation and friends and only get numbers if you ref the equation.)

answered Apr 01 '11 at 15:59

Ulrich Schwarz

9,830

score 3 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 01 '11 at 17:02

3

As you're aware that this isn't best practice, I don't mind answering! The following seems to work:

\newcommand{\addlabel}[1]{%
\refstepcounter{equation}%
\label{#1}%
\let\]\endequation}

Use it as:

\[
\addlabel{pythagoras}
x^2 + y^2 = z^2
\]

The start of \equation simply steps the counter, so we do that and don't have to worry about doing anything else at the begining. Then we assign the label (since there's no point in having one command to add the number and then another to assign a label to it). To place the label, we use the \endequation command. As we're doing this inside the mathematics, the assignment \let\]\endequation only holds until the end of the mathematics and so it doesn't affect future mathematics (which is a bit lucky for future mathematics).

edited Apr 01 '11 at 17:02

Otis

628
4
9
17

answered Apr 01 '11 at 12:53

Andrew Stacey

153,724
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751

1

This doesn't work if amsmath is loaded. – Gonzalo Medina Apr 01 '11 at 13:18
2

And there's a typo in the definition of \addlabel: it should be \label{#1}, instead of \label{pythagoras}. – Gonzalo Medina Apr 01 '11 at 13:27
@Gonzalo: (amsmath) Probably not, but the question didn't specify a package and was clearly not looking for a "robust" solution so I didn't spend much effort on it. (pythagoras) Whoops! That was my test case. Still, Leo's looks simplest so I'll not bother sorting out the problems with mine! – Andrew Stacey Apr 01 '11 at 17:58

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 10 '13 at 22:32

3

To build on Konrad's answer and make it work with amsmath, I'd use:

\newcommand{\myequation}{\begin{equation}}
\newcommand{\myendequation}{\end{equation}}
\let\[\myequation
\let\]\myendequation

answered Dec 10 '13 at 22:32

Alec Jacobson

756

This is the best answer. No need to type :"\addtag" – Astor Florida May 15 '18 at 07:57
Note that there's a pitfall if you use this for align: environments - What is wrong with defining \bal as \begin{align}? - TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange – user202729 May 31 '23 at 13:08

Giving an equation between \[ \]'s a number

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